Chelsea stars shine in world XI awards

Players from the Premiership, including Chelsea's England regulars John Terry and Frank Lampard, featured strongly in the inaugural MasterCard FIFPro World XI Player Awards announced in London last night. The nominations were made by their fellow professionals through the global umbrella organisation of players' unions.

The midfielder Claude Makelele was the third player of Chelsea, the Premier League champions, to be chosen in the FIFPro World XI line-up. Yet there was no place in the side for the Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, as Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o and the Milan front man Andrei Shevchenko topped the poll in attack.

Other English-based winners were the Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Rooney, the 19-year-old England striker, was voted FIFPro Academy's young player of the year and the 20-year-old Portugal winger Ronaldo received a special award voted on by fans across the globe in the only public ballot category.

The gala ceremony was held at the BBC TV Centre, where Pele was honoured with the FIFPro legend award to recognise his outstanding contribution to the game and the current Brazilian star Ronaldinho topped the poll for FIFPro's world player of the year.

Elsewhere, Birmingham's Nicky Butt has been charged by the Football Association with making abusive comments to a match official. The midfielder, on loan at St Andrews from Newcastle, was sent off against Portsmouth on Saturday for kicking Dario Silva. Butt has yet to respond. A disciplinary commission will consider the case next Tuesday.